100 Greatest Rock Guitar Solos

The dramatic, amplified electric guitar solo has become a characteristic part of rock music. Guitar solos are a defining feature of the rock genre of heavy metal, in which most songs feature a solo. Metal solos often showcase the virtuosity of the guitarists, especially in metal styles that use shred guitar techniques for rapid playing of scales and arpeggios. Since the 1960s, electric guitarists have often altered the timbre of their guitar adding electronic guitar effects such as reverb, distortion, delay, and chorus to make the sound fuller and add harmonic overtones. Other effects used in solos include the wah pedal and the talk box.

Rock bands often have two guitarists, designated "lead" and "rhythm", with the “lead” player performing the solos and instrumental melody lines while the "rhythm" player accompanies with chords or riffs (there are some cases where the two guitarists will share the lead role). Most examples of rock music are based around songs in traditional forms. The main formal features are verses, choruses, and bridges. The guitar solo is usually the most significant instrumental section of a mainstream rock song. In other rock-related genres, such as pop and dance music, the synthesizer usually plays this role.

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1. Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
2. Van Halen - Eruption
3. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird
4. Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
5. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - All Along the Watchtower
6. Guns N' Roses - November Rain
7. Metallica - One
8. Eagles - Hotel California
9. Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train
10. Cream - Crossroads
11. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Chile
12. Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode
13. Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood
14. Derek And The Dominoes - Layla
15. Pantera - Floods
16. Led Zeppelin - Heartbreaker
17. Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover
18. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Little Wing
19. Deep Purple - Highway Star
20. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
21. Pink Floyd - Time
22. Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing
23. Rage Against the Machine - Bulls on Parade
24. Metallica - Fade to Black
25. Jethro Tull - Aqualung
26. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
27. Stevie Ray Vaughan - Pride and Joy
28. Ozzy Osbourne - Mr. Crowley
29. Steve Vai - For the Love of God
30. Joe Satriani - Surfing with the Alien
31. Ted Nugent - Stranglehold
32. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Machine Gun
33. B.B. King - The Trill is Gone
34. Radiohead - Paranoid Android
35. Pantera - Cemetery Gates
36. Yngwie Malmsteen - Black Star
37. Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
38. Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love
39. Neil Young - Cortez the Killer
40. Steely Dan - Reelin' in the Years
41. Queen - Brighton Rock
42. The Beatles - While my Guitar Gently Weeps
43. ZZ Top - Sharp Dressed Man
44. Pearl Jam - Alive
45. The Doors - Light my Fire
46. Van Halen - Hot for Teacher
47. The Allman Brothers Band - Jessica
48. The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil
49. Santana - Europa
50. Kiss - Shock Me
51. Metallica - Master of Puppets
52. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Star Spangled Banner
53. Led Zeppelin - Since I've been Loving You
54. The Smashing Pumpkins - Geek U.S.A.
55. Joe Satriani - Satch Boogie
56. Black Sabbath - War Pigs
57. Pantera - Walk
58. Eric Clapton - Cocaine
59. The Kinks - You Really Got Me
60. Frank Zappa - Black Napkins
61. Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears
62. Pink Floyd - Money
63. Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun
64. Prince - Little Red Corvette
65. Nirvana - In Bloom
66. The Allman Brothers Band - Blue Sky
67. Michael Jackson - Beat It
68. Yes - Starship Trooper
69. The Beatles - And Your Bird Can Sing
70. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Purple Haze
71. Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
72. Aerosmith - Walk This Way
73. Phish - Stash
74. Deep Purple - Lazy
75. The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again
76. Neil Young - Cinnamon Girl
77. Alice in Chains - Man in the Box
78. Grateful Dead - Truckin'
79. Van Halen - Mean Street
80. AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long
81. Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane
82. King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man
83. Stevie Ray Vaughan - Scuttle Buttin'
84. Sublime - Santeria
85. David Bowie - Moonage Daydream
86. The Allman Brothers Band - Whipping Post
87. Living Colour - Cult of Personality
88. Steely Dan - Kid Charlemagne
89. Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name
90. Eric Clapton - Let it Rain
91. Creedence Clearwater Revival - I Heard it Through the Grapevine
92. Stray Cats - Stay Cat Strut
93. The Doors - The End
94. Rush - Working Man
95. Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter
96. The Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Woman
97. The Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock
98. Dream Theater - Under a Glass Moon
99. Jeff Beck - Cause We've Ended as Lovers
100. Janes Addiction - Three Days